Filing-appliance case.



H. 1. HICK.

FILING APPLIANCE CASE. APPuc/mon man xuLY 21.1914.

Patented Oct. 9, 1,917..

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I I lllllJ A il HARRY J. RICK, or ALLIANCE, OHIO, AssIeNOR To THEivIccAsKEY REGISTER CoM-1 TANY, (INCORPORATED IN 1914,) or ALLIANCE,OHIO, A coRPORATIoN or OHIO.

FILING-APPLIANCE CASE.

Application inea July 27, 191e. serial No. 853,254.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it lmown that I, HARRY J. HICK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Alliance, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Filing-Appliance Cases,of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a case for a filing appliance, which mayinclude 'a series of hinged holders operatively mounted therein andadapted to be completely inclosed by the case for protection againstfire and like damage. v

The invention contemplates the useof a rectangular case composed of alower or base section and an upper or cover section, with guiding hingeconnections between the sections, so that the upper section can loeclosed downward upon-the base section to completely incase the billholders mounted therein, orl can be swung upward with its rear endresting upon the rear portion of the basesection to from a back orsupport for the bill holders in operative position.

In a former application, filed J une 1, 1914,

Serial No. 841,976, a filing appliance of this type or character hasbeen illustrated, de scribed and claimed, in which similar base andcover sections are provided with intermeshing tongues and grooves upon'the side and forward rims and rabbets upon the rear' rims, and withguiding' hinge connections between their rear ends for swinging andshifting the cover sections upon the base sections, so that when closedthe rear ends'will be in alinement, and when open, the top of the coversection will be alinedwith the rear end of the base section. y

The object ofthe present invention is to provide intermeshing tonguesand grooves upon the rear rims of the case sections, as well as upon theside and forwardv rims thereof; and to construct and arrange the guidinghinge connections so as to disengage and rengage the intermeshing tongueand groove upon the rear rims before and after the shifting of the coversection upon the base section caused by its opening and clos# ingmovements. l

The object ofthe invention, thus briefly set forth, is attained by thepreferred embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings,forming part hereof, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the caseSpeccation of Letters Patent.

L I partlyin section thereon,

Patented 9ct. 9, 1917,

-with the cover section closed upon the base section;

F ig. 2, a similar view showing the cover. section rotated. part wayinto upright *position'upon the rear end of the base section,y andshowing one guiding hinge connection,

Fig. 3, a similar view partly in section showing the cover sectionrotated intoiupright position upon therear end (of the base section;andv i i y Fig. 4, a fragmentary rear .end view of one side lof the easewith the cover section rotatedpart way upward as in Fig. 2.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The case is composed of the substantially similar rectangular bottom orbase section 1 and the top or cover section 2, which arefopf erativelyconnected together by means of the guiding hinge brackets 3, one beinglocated on each side ofthe rear end portion of the case. A series ofbill holders 4 may be hinged together at their rear ends, and' the lowerholder may have its-hinged end pivoted to the rear end rimof thecoversection; and all the holders may be superposed' upon an indexy frame 5,also pivoted at its rear end tofthe rear rim of the cover section andhaving its forward end supported by guiding means 6 for operatingforward and rearward out of and into the case.

Each -wall of the case sections is preferably made of two metal vsheetsor plates 7,' spaced apart,between which is providedl the filling 8 ofheat resisting material to form a fire-proof structure; and the rims ofthe case sections are preferably formed by welding or .otherwisesecuring bars of substantially rectangular Across section, between the:edges of the spaced metal plates. rim .bars 9 of one section,preferably the base section, are provided with the tonguesl 10,v and therim bars 11 of the other section, preferably the cover section, areprovided with the corresponding grooves 12; which tongues and groovesare arranged to intermesh with each other to form asealed joint betweenthe rims, when the cover section is seated upon the base section, asshown in Fig. 1. f

Each guiding hingebracket 3 is secured bythe depending flangel` thereonto the side of the base section at therear end there# of, as by means ofthe boltslle; and in eachi The bracket is formed the horizontal way 15,above and adjacent to the r'in of the base section, land the upright way16 above the horizontal way and intermediate the ends thereof.

rlhe horizontal way 15 may be formed by flanges deflected outward fromthe body of the bracket forming the horizontal track 17 below and thehorizontal guide 18 ab ve the way; and the horizontal track ispreferably located slightly above the top of the rim` tongue 10 on thebase section, and for the purpose of the present invention, the rear endof the track is depressed to form the circular segment socket 19, thebottom of which extends to or below the base of the rim tongues 10.

and the upright way 16 may likewise be formed by lflanges deflectedoutward from the body of the bracket to ferm the guides 2O and 21 on theforward and rear sides of the way; which guides yare preferably parallelto each other, and have their upper portions substantially vertical andthe lower portions i-nclined downward and forward from the upperportions, the inclined lower portions of the guides being curvedconcentric with the rear edge of the rear rim of the base section.

Rollers 22 are pivoted on each side of the lower rear corner of thecover section, which rollers are arranged to travel in the horiZontalways 15 and to rest in the circular-segment soc iets 19 at the rear endof the ways when the cover section is closed downward upon the basesection; and rollers 23 are j ournaled on each side near 'the rear endof the cover section intermediate its top and rim, which rollers arearranged to travel in the upright ways 16.

Lock plates 2% are secured to each inner side of the cover section atthe rear end thereof, and are provided with the inclined hooks 25protruding from the rear rim of the cover section, so as to engage withthe lock posts, which may be the pivoted-rollers 26, mounted on eachinner side of the base section adjacent to the rear rim thereof, fordrawing the pivot rollers 22 directly downward into the sockets 19 andclamping the rear ends of the case sections together when the coversection is rotated downward, to seat its rim grooves upon the rimtongues of the base section,

Counterbalance means are provided for sustaining the cover section whenswung upward from the base section, which means may include bearingheads 27 pivoted to the forward part of the base section, slide brackets2S pivoted to the sides of the cover section7 slide rods 29 secured tothe bearing bracket and operating in and through the slide brackets, andcompression springs on the slide rods between the brackets. For thepurpose of the present invention, the springs neaefieo the cover sectionbodily upward from the base section.

The parts are so proportioned and arranged that when the cover sectionis swung downward upon Ythe base section7 the rollers 22 will riderearward upon the tracks 17 into 'the sockets 19 at the rear end of theways 15, and the rollers 23 will be guided downward Vin the ways 16,until they reach the curved lower portion thereof, when the forwardguide 2O and the clamping hook 25 will force the rear rim of the coversection directly downward upon the rear rim of the base section afterwhich the roller 23 will travel downward and forward in a `circleconcentric with the rear edge of the roar rim of the base section, theforward guide 20, supplemented by the clamping hook and post and 26,serving to force and clamp the cover rim downward upon the base rim ofthe case.

Suitable locking and clamping means including the hook latch 30 in theforward end of the cover section and the post 31 in the forward end ofthe base section may be provided for locking and clamping the forwardends of the case sections together. ln this relation of the parts, it isevident that a sealed airtight joint will be maintained between the I."s, which will prevent the en.-

rance of lire flames or heat therethrough into the case. Andfurthermore, the entrance of the tongues between the grooves in all therims will hold the adjoining rim in true alineinent and prevent alateral warping of one with r rence to the other, and

consequent gapping of the joint.

ller opening the case, after unlocking the latch 80, thecoer section maybe swung upward by grasping the handle 32 on the forward end thereof; inwhich movement the cover section will first rotate upward upon rear edgeof the rear rim of the base section, until the rollers 28 reach thevertical portion of the upright ways; whereupon the counterbalancesprings, supplementing the lifting action of the operator, will raisethe c ver sections directly upward so that the rear rim thereof willclear the tongues on the rear rim of the base section, therebypermitting the rear rim of the cover section to move freely forward,with the rollers 22 thereon riding upon the tracks 17; the rollersbetween the guides forming the upright way 16, now serving as a fulcrum,as shown in l? 2, until the cover section of the has been shifted intoupright position upon the base section, as shown in l? ig.

For closing the cover section upon the base section, the operation thusdescribed is just reversed; and it is evident that after the rear rim ofthe cover section has been swung backward freely over the tongue on therear. rim ofthe base section, by a movement reverse to that describedabove, the rollers 23 will be forced downward by the guides 20, whichaction will finally be supplemented by the locking hook 26 and latch 30,'to draw the cover section downward against the sustaining action of thecounterbalance springs, thereby seating and clamping the case rimssecurely together.

In order to prevent any binding action of the rollers in the guide-waysduring the initial opening and final closing movements of the coversection upon the base section, the segment sockets 19 are preferablyformed slightly larger than the rollers 22 so as to operate freelytherein; and-to further facilitate the swinging of the cover section,the intermeshing tongues and grooves on the rims of the cover and basesections are tapered so as to permit a free and easy disengagementthereof.

I claim:

1. A filing case including a stationary member and a movable member,connections between said members permitting the movable member to swingrelative to said stationary7 member, and operating to move itlongitudinally of said stationary member, and to move it directly upwardor downward during an intermediate portion of said swinging movement.

2. A filing case including a stationary member and a movable member, camconnections between said members permitting the movable member to swingrelative to said stationary member and operating duringthe swingingmovement of the movable member to move said movable memberlongitudinally n of said stationary member, with a directly upward ordownward movement duringv an intermediate portion of said swingingmovement.

3. A filing case including a bottom member, an upper member mounted onand movable relative to said bottom member, and cooperating cammedconnections between said members permitting the upper section to swingrelative to said bottom section and operating to move said upper sectionlongitudinally of said bottom section as it swings from one position toanother, with a directly upward or downward movement during an.intermediate portion of said swinging movement.

4. A filing case including two sections, and connections between saidsections permitting one of them to be swung relative to the other andoperating to cause longitudinal movement between the sections during theswinging movement of the movable section, with a directly upward ordownward movement during an intermediate portion of saidswinging'movement.

5. A filing case including two sections, one of which is movablerelative to the other from an upright to a horizontal position and viceversa, and means Ajoining said sections together, whereby movement ofthe movable section from one position to the other actuates said movablesection in a longitudinal direction, and also directly upward ordownward during an intermediate portion of said swinging movement.

6. A `filing case including a base section and a cover section thereon,and guiding hinge connections between the rear ends of the sectionscomprising brackets on the base section having horizontal tracks withcircular segment sockets in their rear ends adjacent to the rimsthereof, upright guideways having their lower ends curved concentricwith the rear edge of the rear rim of the base section, and pivots onthe cover section operating upon the tracks andl in the guideways.

7. A'iiling case including similar base and cover sections with guidinghinge connections between their rear ends for swinging and shifting thecover section upon the base section, there being intermeshing tonguesand grooves upon all the rims of the section, and means for moving thecover sec.- tion directly upward and downward'before and after theshifting movement thereof.

8. A filing case including similar base and cover sections with guidinghinge connections between their rear ends for swinging and shifting thecover section upon the base section, there being intermeshing tonguesand grooves upon all the rims of the sections, and means for moving thecover section directly downward and then clamping and locking the rimstogether when the case sections are closed, and vice versa. f

9. A filing case including similar base and cover sections with guidinghinge connections between their rear ends for swinging and shifting thecover section upon the base section, there being intermeshing tonguesand grooves upon all'the rims of the sections, the hinge connectionspermitting a vertical movement of the cover section at a predeterminedplace intermediate the ends of the swinging movement, and correlatedmeansV for raising and lowering the cover directly upward or downward atsaid predetermined place to clear the tongue upon the rear rim of thebase section.

HARRY J. HICK.

Genies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of atents,

